A few sports stars have been brought into the Panama Papers controversy. The Guardian had a piece that listed footballers Willian (Chelsea) and Andy Cole (Manchester United) plus golfer Nick Faldo (here). ESPN ran a piece about how Barcelona's Lionel Messi featured in the release of the material (here). And there was a story of how the UEFA offices were raided because of Gianni Infantino appearing in the papers (here).

It is not too surprising that wealthy sports people avail of tax opportunities like other wealthy people. Richard Brooks devotes a chapter to the issue of tax efficiency in English football in his book The Great Tax Robbery (see previous post here). And, it is not limited to English football. In a previous post, I drew attention to Ronaldo's links to Dublin and the Irish tax environment (here). The Irish Independent recently explained the monetary benefits to the Irish Exchequer of one such financial link with Ronaldo's agent (here). Accounts for a company called Gestifute International reveal the details of a €1.3m payment.

Ronaldo's agent, Mr Mendes, is also associated with another Irish registered company called Quality Football Ireland. This week Quality Football Ireland made the headlines for the financial arrangements surrounding the Atletico Madrid footballer Koke (here). The website Football Leaks revealed that a 30% stake in the footballer was sold to the Irish company (here).

While the sports people might act like other wealthy people, they seem to get an easier ride from the public. The Argentina Football Association has come out in support of Messi (who has a separate tax related trial soon). The former Icelandic Prime Minister was not so lucky.